Trans Magic in Her Majesty’s Royal Coven

Cover of Her Majesty's Royal Coven, a novel by Juno Dawson, courtesy of Penguin Random House. It features the silhouette of a girl standing in an eye of flames.

Witches are real, and there could be one sitting right beside you as you’re reading this on your morning commute. In the UK, they’re governed by Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, a sisterhood headed by the high priestess. Witches are innately…

Why Diversity Is Important in Media

A board featuring the text "You belong" on a background of all kinds of colours

Just over a year ago, I was listening to a podcast when one of the hosts said he didn’t understand why diversity is important in media. I remember, because I had been listening to these people for years, and this…

2023 Reading & Writing Resolutions

A person, small in the foreground, before a snowy mountain range. They are looking to the year ahead and its challenges.

Resolutions are not everyone’s cup of tea. I’ve never cared for them, convinced that if I wanted to improve an aspect of my life, I should just keep working on it. Resolutions for a new calendar year seemed like well-meaning,…

My Favourite Reads of 2022

The covers of A Memory Called Empire, Nona the Ninth, Jade City, and A Master of Djinn piled up diagonally

I dove headlong into a couple of new releases in 2022, but the bulk of my reading consisted of books published these past few years. I’ve listed my favourite entries below in no particular order. You might notice they all…

My Highlights of the 2022 Game Awards

To the left, the protagonist of Hades II, Melinoë, with a dagger and a sickle floating in front of her. To the right, a Tarnished hero and their Maiden from Elden Ring.

The Game Awards came and went, crowning God of War: Ragnarök and Elden Ring as the year’s biggest and brightest, with ten awards between them. They duked it out for the title of Game of the Year, and though God…

World-building in Jade City

Jade City, by Fonda Lee

The world of the Green Bone Saga is not that different from our own. Its mid-twentieth-century technology needs little explanation, though it does have a speculative element: a special type of jade that gives people superpowers, effectively turning them into…

The Golden Enclaves Is a Triumph

Part of the cover for The Golden Enclaves, a novel by Naomi Novik, which features an open gate and creepy floating eyes.

The Golden Enclaves is a shining example of how a series should end. Indeed, the conclusion to the Scholomance trilogy ties most of its strands in a satisfying bow. Mind you, a story doesn’t need all of its loose ends…

Radiohead’s Virtual KID A MNESIA

The KID A MNESIA poster, featuring stark white mountains against a dark background

I took a detour through the woods. It led me to the gray space between roots where reality fades. Then I went inside the pyramid and stood in a circle of demons as they danced. This is Radiohead’s virtual exhibition,…

Strange New Worlds, Three Episodes In

Una and La'an on either side of a table in the Entreprise lounge

We’ve gotten no less than four new Star Trek shows these past few years, five if you count the Short Treks anthology series. It’s a lot, but last month has marked the launch of yet another series, the first live-action…

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